Romantically Challenged Read Online Free PDF

wrong. It was a win-win scenario.
    “Fine,” I said, “but if I have a terrible date it’ll be on your conscience.”
    She took the spoon out of her mouth and gave me her widest self-satisfied grin. “I can live with that.”

Chapter 8
    Prince Charming

    The new, open-minded me reluctantly agreed to go out with John on Friday night. He called me Thursday night to work out the details.
    “So what do you want to do tomorrow?” he asked.
    “I don’t know,” I said. “How about dinner?”
    “Dinner? That’s so boring.”
    “Then how about a movie?”
    After a few seconds of silence he said, “Nah, I don’t feel like a movie.”
    “Okay. Then what do you feel like?”
    “I don’t know, I just moved here. You need to show me around.”
    Prince Charming was trying my patience. “That’s fine, but you’ll need to give me a hint about what you’re looking for.”
    “Forget it. I’ll come up with something and surprise you. I’ll pick you up at eight.”
    * * *
    I snuck out of work early Friday night so I would have time to shower, dress, and eat dinner before John arrived. I wasn’t going to spend the entire evening hungry just because he thought dinner was boring. When I buzzed him upstairs at ten minutes to eight, I intended to chide him for being early, until I opened my front door.
    “What are you wearing?” I said, despite it being quite obvious that he was wearing sweatpants and a torn T-shirt under his raincoat.
    “My workout clothes,” he said and held up his gym bag as an offer of proof.
    “Why?” was all I could manage.
    He walked into the living room, sat down on the couch, and put his sneakered feet up on my glass coffee table. “I joined a gym on Monday and they sent me a free guest pass. I thought we could go work out, then grab a coffee.”
    Maybe I’d been out of circulation too long, but when did working out become an acceptable first date activity?
    “It’s on Roberston,” John continued. “Just a few blocks from here.”
    “I know the one,” I said. “I used to belong there.”
    “Used to?” He took his feet off the coffee table and sat up. “What’s wrong with the place?”
    “Nothing, I just got really busy at work and let my membership lapse.”
    He relaxed back into the couch. “Good, then you can sign up again tonight with me as your referral. That way, I get the free gift. I think they told me it’s a voucher for a health food restaurant. We can go there afterwards for dinner.”
    At this point, the close-minded Julie would’ve told him to get the hell out and never call again. But as the new open-minded Julie, I just said, “I wasn’t planning on renewing my membership.”
    “Why not?”
    “I’ve decided to join a new gym by my office.”
    That wasn’t a total lie. I’d driven past the gym near my office a few weeks ago and had momentarily considered joining. I just hadn’t thought about it since. Not that I didn’t need to--I did. I’d gained six pounds since Scumbag left me, although I could only attribute three to the break up. The other three could be directly traced back to last Christmas’ cookie binge.
    “Well we don’t need to go to dinner, you can still use my guest pass.”
    Lucky me.
    * * *
    I left John in the living room while I went into my bedroom to change. It took me ten minutes just to locate my sneakers. I found them buried in the back of my closet under an old black leather purse I hadn’t used in years but couldn’t part with, and a jumble of dry cleaner’s hangers.
    By the time I’d peeled myself out of my black jeans (the only pair I still owned that didn’t make me look fat) and pulled on my baggy sweatpants, I was starting to think maybe this hadn’t been such a bad idea after all. John was definitely a cheapskate, but if we were only going to the gym it would be a short evening, and at least now I was comfortable.
    * * *
    “Which way is your car?” I asked John as we stood under the awning of my building waiting